National Tide 1980

"Oh, you know a lot, you know all the eight major cuisines. Although you are not good at cooking, you have actually hit the point."

"There is no need to doubt it. Have you forgotten, what did we just say? There is a positive and a negative. Authenticity is the pursuit of southern cuisine, and northern cuisine's pursuit of rich taste is a counterexample."

"Because the purpose of this technique is no longer to reflect the superiority of the ingredients, but to try to cover up the bad taste of the ingredients. This is to solve the problem of limited or even stale ingredients."

"This technique is called flavor changing. It is not only the basis of northern cuisine, but its advantage is also obvious in its wide range of applications. To put it bluntly, in the eyes of northern chefs, there is no food that cannot be cooked. Even fishy and stinky food can be turned into delicious food. For example, with a bowl of sauce, I can make you happily eat the crap."

"If you learn this skill to the extreme, you can change vegetarian food into meat, or meat into vegetarian food, and even change the texture and properties of ingredients. It will allow you to enjoy a delicious meal during the months when you can't eat something. It's like racing crabs , whoever knows how to cook this dish will be addicted to crabs all year round.”

"So you know why Shandong cuisine is the only northern cuisine, but it ranks first among the eight major cuisines? In addition to its long history, and besides the fact that Shandong cuisine is the birthplace of Chinese food, this is the key reason."

"To put it bluntly, the techniques of Shandong cuisine are the most mature and perfect among all cuisines. Steaming, boiling, roasting, stuffing, frying, stir-frying, boiling, cooking, deep-frying, mincing, curing, salt, soybean, vinegar, sauce, etc. Wine, honey, pepper... As long as other cuisines have them, Shandong cuisine has them all. But things like popping, popping, grilling, stewing, boiling, and roasting are unique to Shandong cuisine and cannot be found in other cuisines. .”

"Our Shandong cuisine has both original flavor techniques and can pursue the original flavor. It is comparable to southern cuisine. It also has unique flavor-changing techniques, which is unique. This is called a two-pronged approach, which means there are no shortcomings. To It’s hard to say that Shandong cuisine is a spontaneous style. Other cuisines are affected. Our Shandong cuisine is the ancestor of thousands of people, understand? The difference is here."

"Come on, if you don't believe it, just look at the pot-shaped tofu on the table. Other cuisines don't use tofu like this. Especially the one I made is a little bit different. It includes the method of adding flavor and freshness. , it also has a wonderful change of taste. Try it and see if it is different from the usual ones in the restaurant?"

With that said, "Zhang Dashao" took a piece of hotpot tofu to Ning Weimin with his chopsticks.

At this time, there was not much left of this dish on the plate, only three or four pieces.

As the two of them were chatting, Zhang Shihui and Bian Jiangong's mouths were not idle, and they almost filled their stomachs with this plate of tofu.

Although they are not usually greedy people, they can't resist the only freshly made hot dish of "Zhang Da Shao", which is so delicious.

As a result, without paying attention, he became Zhu Bajie eating watermelon.

But they don't eat in vain, their tongues are of some use.

When "Zhang Dashao" asked Ning Weimin a question, the two of them blushed and took the initiative to answer it, and they actually revealed the answer.

One said, "Master Zhang, your tofu is amazing. It doesn't have the smell of tofu, but it's so delicious. It's different from the pleasure of big fish and meat, but it's better than meat and vegetables to satisfy your cravings! I can just eat rice today, at least I can Eat half a catty. How can you make it taste so delicious? It doesn’t even look like tofu..."

Another one also said, "I realized what you were talking about. In addition to the salty aroma that it should have, this dish also has a sweet and "umami" flavor. It is this umami flavor that is so relevant to me. All the restaurants I’ve eaten in are different. It’s amazing that the tofu can be made like this! You should go to the state banquet..."

At this time, Ning Weimin, who had already eaten the tofu, couldn't help but savor the taste and nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, it's really fresh. Why is it so fresh?"

"Zhang Dashao" was completely happy and pointed at the three young men in front of him one by one.

"Hehe, I didn't expect that you three are all big eaters. You really don't eat my food for nothing, so you caught the point right away. Do you want to know what's going on? Then I'll tell you."

"This pot-stuffed tofu is made in restaurants outside and is almost always made in Shandong. First, cut half a catty of southern tofu into pieces, and then put it into a bowl with three-centimeter slices. Crack three eggs and pour them into the tofu bowl. Add a little stir-fried chopped green onion and mix well.

"Put vegetable oil in the wok, heat it up, pour in the tofu and eggs, and spread it into a round cake. When both sides are fried until golden, add rice wine, soy sauce, refined salt and sugar to taste, and then thicken it."

“After it comes out of the pot, the dish should be golden in color, with a tangy aroma of green onions, and a rich juicy flavor. It’s delicious as a meal.

As for the level of the tofu, it actually depends on whether the tofu is tasty and the heat of frying the tofu. "

"But if you make it this way, the tofu will still have a strong smell, and it only has eggs, so the taste is too monotonous. At the same time, there is a difficult problem with this dish. It is that it is very easy to lose the juice. It doesn’t taste good. So when you eat it, it must be hot, and it must be served as soon as it comes out of the pan. If you delay it, it will be all over."

"As for me, the improvement mainly lies in two points. First, dip the cut tofu pieces into egg batter and fry them. Apply shrimp paste made from fresh shrimp meat on both sides of the tofu, and use rice wine to remove the fishy smell. Use shrimps to soak them. This will not only give them a better appearance, but also ensure that the dishes are tasty and rich. Where does the umami come from? It comes from here."

"The most important secret is that starch is not used when thickening the soup, but bone broth made from chicken, duck and pig bones is used. Because the naturally brewed bone broth contains collagen, the soup prepared by this method is fragrant and fragrant. It’s so thick that it won’t go down even when it’s cold, so it turns into a jelly.”

"Do you understand? Just because of this change, the auxiliary ingredients are more expensive than the main ingredients, so of course it becomes a delicacy. How can it not be delicious? This is exquisite cooking. Underneath what seems ordinary, there is something extraordinary. …”

Talking about cooking with "Zhang Dashao", especially while eating his dishes, is definitely an unexpected and rare treat.

I am afraid that few people can have such a good opportunity to receive such authoritative food baptism on both the spiritual and physical levels.

As a result, such a seemingly ordinary meal became a great blessing for Ning Weimin, Zhang Shihui and Bian Jiangong.

They all had to admit that being lucky enough to have this bite was a blessing they had accumulated for eight lifetimes.

Because there is probably only such a cooking master in the entire capital.

I am willing to put so much effort into making a plate of tofu, and yet be able to do it so superbly.